The invention relates to an articulated hinge for the mounting of a door leaf or flap at the carcass of a furniture piece from whose carcass walls at right angles a frame protrudes which narrows the clear or unobstructed door opening of the furniture piece. The frame is partially covered in the closed position of the door by the engaged door leaf. The hinge comprises a carcass-related part adapted to be adjustably connected to the frame and a door-related part adapted to be connected to the door leaf and pivotally connected with the carcass-related part by means of a link mechanism.
With the customary articulated hinges which, for instance, may have the form of four-joint hinges or cross-link hinges, the carcass-related mounting part which as a rule is designed as an elongated supporting arm is customarily mounted on an elongated mounting plate, the supporting arm being fitted over the mounting plate and being adapted to be fixed adjustably in different directions of a system of coordinates. The mounting plate is ordinarily connected to the inner surface of a side wall of the piece of furniture or to a supporting wall. This, however, is not possible with furniture cabinets of the type in question here which have on the door side a frame extending all around the door opening and confining the same and which also protrudes at right angles from the furniture carcass. Such cabinets, however, are for sale in considerable volume, especially as kitchen cabinets, and were up to now equipped with well known conventional single-joint hinges for the attachment of the doors, the joint of these hinges being externally visible in front of the frame adjacent the door. Since it is desirable also with such cabinets to connect the door with a hinge which is invisible when the doors are closed, a mounting element was developed to which the support arm of the customary, articulated hinges can be connected. Such a mounting element is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 928,776, filed July 28, 1978, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,652. However, this mounting element requires a milled opening extending from the front to the back side of the frame, which on the one hand requires special work steps for producing such a milled opening, and on the other hand weakens the frame.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a hinge which can be connected to the frame of a furniture piece, which frame extends into the door opening, and which hinge can be connected directly to the frame without requiring a milled opening in the frame, while at the same time providing for an adjustment of the hinge with respect to the amount by which the door leaf covers the front face of the frame in the closed position of the door leaf.
Starting with a hinge of the above-mentioned type, the problem underlying the present invention has been solved by providing the carcass-related mounting plate with a flange plate which holds the link mechanism and which can be removably connected to the end face of the frame which is set inwardly relative to the supporting wall and which confines the clear or unobstructed door opening. Moreover, underneath the bottom side of the flange plate facing the end face of the frame there is arranged an adjustment plate which is displaceable relative to the flange plate in the longitudinal direction of the end face of the frame by a predetermined amount. Still furthermore, the invention is characterized in that at those surfaces of the flange plate and the adjustment plate which face each other there is provided, respectively, at least one complementary inclined ramp surface which upon displacement of the adjustment plate relative to the flange plate slide up and down relative to each other and effect a change in the distance at the flange plate from the end face of the frame and thereby a corresponding change in the amount of the overlap or cover of the front side of the frame by the engaged door leaf. The flange plate of the thus constructed hinge, therefore, can be connected directly to the end face of the frame while the adjustment of the overlap of the door, i.e., the alignment of the door leaf relative to the clear or unobstructed door opening of the piece of furniture is possible by a corresponding alignment of the flange plate and the adjustment plate relative to each other.
By providing ribs and recesses, respectively, which extend in the direction of the displacement of the adjustment plate and which engage each other, the flange plate and the adjustment plate can be prevented from movement in directions deviating from the intended direction of the displacement of the adjustment plate.
The adjustment plate is preferably somewhat wider than the thickness of the frame, as measured between the front and rear side of the frame, while a thin abutment strip or ledge is provided on the longitudinal margin associated with the front side of the frame and extends from the bottom of the plate somewhat and can engage the front side of the frame. For the correct mounting of the hinge on the end face of the frame, such that the door leaf to be mounted engages the frame with the smallest possible gap, it is then merely necessary to effect the mounting such that the abutment ledge engages the front side of the frame in the final mounted position of the hinge.
This engagement of the abutment ledge at the front side of the frame can be guaranteed additionally by providing the adjustment plate at its longitudinal margin associated with the back side of the frame with at least one resilient element extending from its bottom side and adapted to be pretensioned transverse to the adjustment plate. This resilient element rests in the appropriate arrangement of the hinge on the frame under pretension against the back side of the frame and thereby holds the abutment ledge against the front face of the frame.
The resilient element is suitably formed by at least one tongue resiliently arranged at an extension of the adjustment plate.
For purposes of connecting the hinge to the end face of the frame the flange plate is advantageously penetrated by at least one, preferably two bores for connecting screws which can be screwed into the end face of the frame. The adjustment plate is then in the area below the bore or bores, respectively, provided with an oblong hole extending in the direction of displacement. Thus, the flange plate is fixedly, non-displaceably held relative to the frame by the connecting screws whereas the adjustment plate, with the connecting screws loosened, is displaceable longitudinally by an amount determined by the length of the oblong hole.
In order to prevent an unintentional variation in the adjusted overlap of the door leaf, the complementary ramp surfaces facing each other, i.e., the ramp surfaces of the flange plate and the adjustment plate, in a further development of the present invention are provided with a plurality of transverse ribs extending transverse to the direction of displacement of the adjustment plate and with uniform spacing. Upon tightening of the connecting screws the ribs on the ramp surface of one part of the hinge are forced into the intermediate spaces between the ribs of the other hinge part and this achieve a positive, form-locking connection which prevents displacement.
In order to hold the linkage mechanism to the carcass, the flange plate is advantageously provided with suitably bearing extensions while the flange plate including the bearing extensions is preferably made as an integral die-cast part of metal, especially zinc die-cast part (Zamak).
The adjustment plate is preferably made as an injection molded plastic part although its manufacture from metal is entirely within the scope of the invention.
Depending on the required opening angle of the hinge, the same is provided with a suitable linkage mechanism. If a hinge or door opening angle of from 90 to a maximum of 110 degrees is required, a four-joint linkage mechanism is selected which is formed by two hinge links with their ends pivotally journaled on one hand at the carcass-related mounting part and on the other hand at the door-related mounting part.
If, however, a larger door opening angle of up 180 degrees is required, the carcass-related mounting part is connected with the door-related mounting part by a cross-link mechanism suitable for such an opening angle.